[JURIST] US Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA) [official website] said Thursday that an unnamed Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohammed Atta [Wikipedia profile] as a terrorist two years before the 9/11 attacks [JURIST news archive], and was prepared to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week and reveal the identity of who directed the documents' destruction. Mastermind Atta and three other hijackers were allegedly identified in 1999 by a military intelligence unit called Able Danger [Wikipedia backgrounder] as potential members of al Qaeda [Wikipedia backgrounder]. In late August US Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) [official website] specifically asked the FBI to investigate Able Danger [JURIST report] as well as information-sharing procedures between the FBI and the Pentagon. Two military officers have said that military lawyers dissuaded members of Able Danger from further pursuing Atta and sharing information with the FBI because he was legally in the US at the time. AP has more.

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